


don't worry about him

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Football | Soccer, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 10:19:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/621039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall Horan’s just fine hiding in the shadows, so when footie captain and most popular senior Harry Styles shows a keen interest in him, Niall’s not sure if he can deal with all the attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He laughed in my face. 

Not particularly the guy I wanted to see when I turned around. Louis Tomlinson presented an intimidating presence with his companion, Zayn Malik, who shot a smug smirk in my direction before proceeding to look down and scroll through his phone.

“What are you doing here, by Harry’s locker?” he asked coldly with narrowed eyes after he recovered from his laughing fit, folding his arms over his chest.

“I just…uh wanted to return…yeah Harry left his textbook in Physics so Ms. Flack asked me to return it to him…so I was gonna leave it above his locker yeah” I stuttered, pretty unsure of myself to be quite honest.

“Give it to me. I’ll give it to him,”Louis ordered, not even bothering to offer a smile. 

I warily reached for the textbook before grasping it, turning and just about to hand it off to Louis, when Louis suddenly protested.

“Ew. Drop it. I’d rather pick it up off the floor than be handed it by some low level nerd.” Louis spit out, words filled with venom.

Niall fought back the liquid about to spill from his eyes has a gently dropped the textbook. As soon as Niall heard the textbook hit the tiled floor with a ‘thud’, he pulled his backpack on over one shoulder securely before walking hastily away from the two populars. Niall forced himself to not let any of the tears escape until he got home as he walked away, even when he heard the not-so-secretive snickering from the boys he just fled from.

*

The two boys waited outside Harry’s calculus class where Harry was finishing up a test, as the two were waiting for the third musketeer to join before heading off to footie practice. Just as Louis was about to send another whiny text about missing Harry to Harry himself, the boy showed up as if on cue.

The youngest boy offered the two a bright smile, confidently stating, “Feel like I did solid on that test guys!” “Good job Harry.” Zayn offered, smiling back, while Louis clasped Harry’s shoulder, and praised, “I’m sure you did Harry. You’ve got like the total package. You’re amazing at athletics and at academics, and to top it off, you’ve got the looks as well!” Harry just blushed as he returned a ‘aw thanks Lou’ as the three of them started to make their way towards the locker room. 

“Anything for you Harry” Louis winked. Harry and Louis’ relationship was basically built upon flirtation seeing as their both natural flirts, but the difference is that Harry’s side of flirting has absolutely no feelings behind it. Louis isn’t aware of this, sometimes taking whatever Harry would say to heart, creating fantasies in his head where they were both together, forever. Nobody other than Zayn knew about Louis’ little infatuation with Harry, and Louis intended to keep it that way. At the same time, Louis was determined to make sure no one came in between the two brunettes’ sacred bond, thus coming off as possessive sometimes. Harry didn’t seem to care. In his mind, only two things mattered: football and academics.

Being raised in a wealthy family with successful parents, Harry had made it a promise to himself since he was a child that he would become educated and pursue what he loved so he could, one day, be as happy as his parents are since they pursued what they loved, and look at them now: happy, successful and in love. So Harry made sure to work hard all day and all night so he could eventually be treated with a life like that.

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts when Louis spoke up.

“Oh yeah Haz before I forget, here’s your textbook.” Louis handed him the textbook, subconsciously brushing his fingers against Harry’s.

“Oh my god! I didn’t even know I lost it! How did you find it?” Harry exclaimed, incredibly grateful that it hadn’t gotten lost permanently.

“Oi I think it was a blonde kid with an annoying irish accent, he was putting it above your locker. I’ve seen him around with Payne so I’m pretty sure he’s part of the nerd squad. Whatever, he’s irrelevant.”

“Do you know his name?” Harry asked curiously with intent eyes.

Louis was just about to shrug carelessly, when Zayn spoke up.

“Horan. Niall Horan.”

“How’d you know that?” Louis asked suspiciously, “WAIT NO let me guess! That Payne boy told you! YOU TALKED TO THAT PAYNE BOY ZAYN! What did I tell you about associating with people of his kind?!”

Zayn huffed, clearly annoyed. “You said that I shouldn’t,” he said while kicking a desk on the side of the hallway as they passed.

“Yeah well, there may just have been a reason I said that, Zayn.” Louis countered, the two of them bickering them amongst themselves.

Harry had zoned out a while ago. “Niall. Niall Horan,” he repeated within his mind. That name sounded so familiar. Oh wait! He remembered now. He was the new kid who transferred five years ago from Ireland. He had been on the secondary school’s football team until Louis made fun of his passing skills one day during practice right after Harry and Niall were paired up together by coach to lead the drills.

While the two older boys were still going at each other when they entered the locker room, Harry found himself repeating the blonde boy’s name quietly.

Niall.

Niall.

Harry would be lying if he said it didn’t have a nice ring to it.


	2. Chapter 2

Liam said they were called ‘the Untouchables’.

He had come over to my house right after school today when I didn’t reply to any of his texts. I mean, at the moment, I really wasn’t looking for communication with anyone, even if it was my best friend from secondary school, five years ago when I first moved here.

I told him about the little meeting I had with the egoistic Louis Tomlinson, refraining from mentioning that Zayn was there as well, standing by Louis’s side. I’d hate to see how my best friend would react to having a crush on a guy that’s pretty much siding with someone who’s emotionally (and maybe physically as well if I didn’t watch my future actions) attacking someone who he basically regards as his brother.

Liam explained that Louis, Zayn, Aiden [Grimshaw], and Harry had this small little clique, marked as elite by everyone, called ‘the Untouchables’. Who was responsible for picking the dumb name, Liam had no idea. I didn’t either considering he had no problem with them until today.

Liam spilt everything he had heard about them.

“I have no personal experience with them, but everyone says that they’re gods when it comes to footie but at the same time, everyone says they’re all major jerks – well apart from Zayn. I mean they call them jerks but everyone still kisses up to them, it’s pretty ridiculous if you ask me.”

“Yeah, I mean I understand where everyone’s coming from when they call Louis a jerk. Fucking prick, honestly. I didn’t even do anything and he gives me shit about having that kid-oh yeah Harry’s book. I don’t get it.”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you. Everyone thinks they’re secretly banging. I mean I don’t blame them. Look at them; they don’t leave each other’s side for more than a minute and god knows what they do in the locker room after practice considering Zayn told me that they’re always the last two to leave.”

“Ugh, ew,” I groaned before bringing a pillow to cover my face, “Believe it or not Liam, there was a time when I was friends with both of them, seventh grade when I was on the football team. I mean I haven’t even talked to Harry in like four years but I’m pretty sure Louis’ implanted his own principles in Harry since then.” I left out the part where I had the tiniest of crushes on the younger boy, because just look at him. He’s just gorgeous or rather was gorgeous. I’m the type of person who goes for the attractiveness of personality rather than attractiveness of appearance. Yeah, I’m one of those guys. Harry would have had a chance up until two minutes ago when Liam told me the background story of him and his little jock gang.

“Hey Li, what day is it tomorrow?” 

“Thursday, why?” 

“Ew, I have Physics right before lunch tomorrow. I’m really not in the mood to see those two in class. Probably gonna be snogging each other’s faces off.” I whined from under the pillow that was still covering my face. 

Liam chuckled.

“Probably.”

*

“When you come in, get yourself situated at the lab tables I assigned you on the board.” Ms. Flack ordered as the class started to flood in to the room.

I glanced at the board, eyes sweeping across, praying to the lord I didn’t end up with any of the holy Untouchables (sarcasm). Finally, my eyes found the familiar Niall Horan just to the right of Sean Cullen.

I smiled wide at the name, glad to know I would be working with one of my close friends. I walked away to the lab table were assigned, sitting down when I found it and patiently awaiting the arrival of my lab partner. While waiting, I was curious who we’d be sharing the table with, since there’s supposed to be a pair working on one side and another on the other. I tried to squint, until I realized it was of no use. Her handwriting was puny and we were sitting in the back corner of the room. Deciding to pass time until the rest of the table arrived and class started, I decided to take out my Physics textbook and the homework we were assigned last night. Just as I took my book out, I heard the sliding of a chair out across from me. I looked up smiling expecting Sean, smile fading away when it was none other than the boy who left his book in class yesterday.

“Hey Niall,” he smiled shyly.

Did he actually remember my name after all these years?

“Hey,” I said curtly, smile disappearing instantly when I saw the familiar mop of brown hair coming up behind Harry, that grabbed Harry’s bicep, and whined, “But Harry, you didn’t wait for me at my locker!”

This was bloody fantastic.

“Oh sorry Lou, I had to talk to Ms. Flack about the last question on the test we took Tuesday,” Harry replied, not taking his eyes off me for a single second, with the smile remaining on his face.

I shifted in my chair uncomfortably, before going back to shuffling through my backpack for my homework.

I found it just as the bell rang, lifting my head back up above the table, placing it on the table just fast enough to catch the dirty look Louis gave me.

I mean I expected something like this to happen with my luck, but wheres Sean? He should be here by now. The bell rang and he’s never been late and I swear if he leaves me alone with these two today, that boy can find someone else to copy his Spanish homework off of.

“Hey Ms. Flack, since Cullen isn’t here, couldn’t Niall go work with the new kid over there?” Louis asked with a fake smile, gesturing in some direction, after calling the teacher over to their table.

“Oh, you mean Josh? His partner isn’t here so I suppose that is a good idea. Niall, do you mind going over there to work with Josh? Sean won’t be returning to school until next Friday since all the rugby players have the tournament this weekend and nationals next week.”

Incredibly grateful I wouldn’t have to suffer during this class for more than a week, I gathered all of my stuff, just about to push in my stool when Harry spoke up.

“Or Josh could just come work over here?” Harry suggested. When he noticed the weird looks both Louis and I shot him, he started to explain himself.

“I mean its just that we have a better view of the demo table, so wouldn’t this be a better pick?”

I was internally pleading that Ms. Flack would make the right choice for once, but my heart collapsed a little when she called Josh over to our table. Louis let out a quiet snarl and for once, he did something that I would do the same.

It’s not Josh I have a problem with, it’s the fact that I could have avoided those two for a week, but that just didn’t happen. I put my stuff down, and started unpacking while Josh shuffled awkwardly over to our lab table and put his stuff down next to me. I offered him a small smile, still upset over what unfolded a few moments, but decided to put it behind us as Flack made her way up to the front of the class and started the day’s lesson.

She explained the lab that we were going to do today in pairs briefly before leaving us to carry through with the rest of the lab.

Josh and I made a good team and we worked well together, communicating and cracking jokes along the way. On the other hand, I looked across the table a few times, but just enough to see Harry doing majority of the work, eyes narrowed in concentration, curls falling in place over his forehead, just about to spill over in front of his goggles while Louis was scampering to copy Harry’s notes onto his own paper.

Towards the end of the period, Josh and I had finished our lab, cleaned up and were just chatting to waste the remaining the time away, while Harry was jotting down some final notes and Louis was hurrying around trying to clean up quickly before the bell rang. I found out that Josh had moved here a couple months ago and he’s still trying to find his place but he mentioned that he’s incredibly interested he was in sports. Apparently, he had heard that tryouts for the football team were after school today and he went off on rant about how nervous he was. I avoided telling him that I was on the footie team for two years in a row, you know considering my former team mates were sitting there right across from us.

The moment Josh asked me if I was trying out, both Louis and Harry’s attention turned towards us as quickly as if there was David Beckham waiting outside the school. 

“I’m not sure. I haven’t played in a few years to be quite honest…” I replied, awkwardly scratching the back of my neck.

“You should. It’d be a nice addition,” Harry said while looking straight at me, appearing quite genuine while tapping the eraser end of his pencil against the table, “Remember how good he was when he was on the team, Lou?” he asked, tearing his gaze away from me slowly to look at his lab partner, whose eyes were practically shooting daggers at the blonde boy.

“I remember Harry. You should definitely try out.” Louis stated, eyes ice cold. I questioned silently if the pencil Louis was grasping in his hand was going to split into two from his tightening grip. 

The bell snapped Niall out of his thoughts quite suddenly. Louis stood up from his seat, sliding his blue varsity jacket back on a bit harshly which he had taken off for the lab in fear of any sort of chemical making contact with it. He stood by Harry, as he waited for him, still staring straight at me as I started shuffling papers into my bag. I pretended not to notice, and was relieved when Louis started to make his way away from the table. Just as I thought it was time to celebrate, he stopped right beside me before quietly but harshly nonetheless, “We’ll see you at tryouts,” proceeding to walk away as if he owned the country. He slowed down a bit when he realized Harry’s footsteps weren't following his, but still felt too dignified to bother turning around to see where he was. Harry finished arranging his folders back into his backpack and started to walk past me when he turned to face me.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Thanks for the textbook Niall and maybe we’ll see you at practice yeah?” Harry smiled before walking away.

Maybe.


	3. Chapter 3

“Lou, wait up!” Harry called as he sprinted from behind Louis.

They had left Physics walking together but by the time they reached the designated hallway where the seniors’ lockers were located, Louis had managed to powerwalk ahead of the other. The other boy stopped in his tracks and turned around just as Harry caught up. Louis let out a huff of annoyance as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“What happened? I thought we would walk to Zayn’s locker before lunch like we always do,” Harry unsurely asked as he regained his breath, which didn’t take very long considering how in shape he was; after all, he is the captain of the football team.

Louis sighed again, looking over Harry’s shoulder to make sure no one was around to listen to this confrontation, before looking Harry straight in the eyes.

“Harry, do you fancy that boy?”

Harry looked stunned, not knowing where the sudden question came from.

“What? Which boy?”

“Oi, don’t act dumb Harry.” Louis snapped causing Harry to broaden his shoulders as he got defensive. No one has ever called him names other than his older sister, and he just wasn’t used to it. Quite frankly, he didn’t want to get used to it.

When sensing the aura of slight anger Harry gave off, Louis realized what he had done, and reached out to give Harry’s shoulder a slight squeeze. Harry would have shrugged it off if Louis hadn’t been his best friend for since before even primary school. Instead, Louis started to explain himself and all Harry could do was listen.

“No wait I’m sorry Haz, I meant do you fancy that boy, that loser?”

“Josh?” Harry asked, uncertain if his friend was being serious.

“No, not him, the other one! The irish one!” Louis corrected urgently, really wanting a response by now.

“Oh you mean Niall. Lou, you don’t know him well enough to call him a loser.”

“Yeah well, you don’t know him well enough to not.”

“Well sure, I barely know the guy. I’ve said just about 3 sentences to him since 7th grade. He could actually be one of those kinds, but I won’t know until I talk to him.”

Louis internally sighed but still wasn’t confident. “Okay, but ya reckon he’s attractive?”

“…I mean kinda - yeah, look at him but I also think Zayn’s attractive but it’s not like I’m trying to shag Zayn.”

“Fine, whatever. All I know is he better not show up at tryouts today. We could really do without another useless buffer on the team.” Louis huffed, as he scruffed the sole of his shoe against the edge of a nearby locker, still having his arms crossed over his chest.

Harry sighed, not willing to hear his stomach voraciously growl again, simply tossed a arm over his friend’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry Lou, he just another pretty face, that’s all. No one else is going to be stealing your or Zayn’s spot as my best friend, I promise.” 

Louis sighed contently as he said. “Okay Harry, if you promise. Let’s get to Zayn’s, he’s still waiting. If we’re lucky, he might be having one of his good days and not scold us.”

Louis joked, causing Harry to chuckle.

They walked together as they were.

“Let’s just hope,”

+

“All right guys! Come to the middle of the field!” Louis called as he tried to huddle all of the guys who were trying out for the team. This was supposed to be Harry’s job but Harry was still in the locker room, putting on his cleats since he had to go talk to the athletics nurse before practice. “YOU GUYS SHOULD BE DONE WITH YOUR HALF MILE BY NOW! IF NOT, GO CONDITION ON YOUR OWN AND COME BACK WHEN YOU’RE GOOD AND READY!” Louis shouted to the few who were still trying to finish their warmup. Quite ashamed, they quickly sprinted to the middle of the field where everyone was already gathered. Louis gave a hardcore judging look at them before letting Zayn continue

“WELCOME TO THE FOOTIE TRYOUTS!” Zayn welcomed the group, most of whom were trying to suck up to the three varsity team members – Louis, Zayn and Aiden. Louis smirked on the inside because he knew he had been marked supreme.

Once again.

“First things first. To be on this team, you need dedication. You need to be hardworking and strong. These trophies we have plastered in trophy cases all around the school and varsity jackets you see Zayn, Aiden and I wearing aren’t just there because of luck. There are literal blood, sweat and tears put into these. Unfortunately, not everyone here will get a jacket. You should deserve it. These only go out to the few who are able to make the varsity team so make that a dream point if you want to succeed. Also, if anyone is disrespectful or the least bit sassy, you can be sure as hell you are off the team and never-”

“Here, I’ll take it from here Lou.” Harry said as he showed up by Aiden’s side who was stood right next to Louis.

Louis simply nodded and smiled out of fondness before replacing the look with a cold glare as he proceeded to stare at the crowd.

“Just please don’t disrespect me, Louis, Zayn, Aiden or any of the other senior team members, and we’ll all get on well, and the main thing is just work hard and show that you really want to win. Don’t worry guys, just have fun. You should be doing a sport mainly because you enjoy it and that’s all that matters. All four of us – me, Louis, Aiden and Zayn- have been in your shoes. We know how it feels like so just try your best, you guys could turn out like us, who knows?” Harry shot a quick smile to his three best friends before continuing, “Ok, does anyone have any questions?” Harry stated calmly, offering a warm smile to the panicked underclassmen.

No one raised their hand, but really Harry wasn’t sure if it was that no one genuinely did have a question or if it was Louis’ intimidating face from beside him which was staring arrogantly at them.

“Ok well, if no one has questions, we’ll go ahead and start. Everyone find a partner and we’ll start by assessing your dribbling skil-”

“Oi Devine! We’ve got enough benchwarmers for this season! Try again next year!” Louis interrupted as he shouted at two boys that were making their way onto the field.

Harry figured out that it was Josh from their Physics class, but he couldn’t quite make out who the fellow hiding behind him was. He also couldn’t take his eyes off of the blond tuft of hair that was popping up every now and then as the two of them walked towards the middle of the field.

“Louis, stop” Aiden warned, before turning to the two boys, “You guys realize tryouts started like 14 minutes ago right?” he asked calmly, the opposite of what Louis would have done.

“Yeah we do, but Niall here – Niall, stop hiding-” Josh started to explain, as he stepped to the side, unveiling a nervous, finger-biting boy who had previously hid behind him.

“Hey Niall” Harry said quietly, just enough so that it was only Niall that could hear him, and lifted the right corner of his mouth to offer a shy smile. He wasn’t sure why, but he found the way the boy was shaking from being so scared kind of … cute.

“H-hey” Niall whispered, clearly still unsure if this was a good idea or not, to try out for a team where one of the head members basically hated his guts for no reason at all. 

Josh started again, “Niall here needed help with his shin guards so I helped him and that was the thing that led us to be 14 minutes late. We’re really sorry, we’ll just go run our half mile now.” Josh started to walk away as Niall was starting to follow.

“No wait, come back!” Harry called out, causing the two boys to turn around awkwardly and wait for the younger boy to continue or for someone to object and tell them to keep going to run their half mile, which ever one came first.

“Harry! What are you doing?! They’re supposed to be running!” Louis said, in a state of disbelief.

Harry simply ignored him and continued, “Today’s only the first day, if you guys are late another time, you’ll run it, but we really need to get the tryouts started so just stay with the crowd.”

Niall and Josh nodded and walked back to join the rest of the players, just quickly enough to catch them tossing around words quietly such as “unfair” and “unjust”.

Niall couldn’t be positive, but he was pretty sure, using his peripheral vision, that Louis was boring holes into the side of his face. Niall tried to the best of his ability to ignore him and zone in to what Harry was saying.

“…get a partner and start dribbling. We’ll be coming around and assessing each and every single one of you, and then we’ll work with passing, and then assign teams so we can have a practice game. We need to distinguish the leaders from the followers, since this team will consist of leaders and leaders alone. Remember guys, just have fun and show us what you got! Would you guys like to add anything?” Harry asked as he turned to his three other team mates. When the three all shook their heads, Harry turned back to face the crowd.

“Okay then, good luck guys and to each his own!” Harry cheered, with Aiden and Zayn letting out loud and excited WHOO’s. The crowd quickly dispersed, as did Aiden, Zayn and Harry, each going to a different section of the field to start observing. Niall was about to walk away to where Josh was located with a ball and patiently waiting for him, until he felt a cold chill and a whisper in his ear. 

“Yeah Niall, to each his own.” Louis spat callously, giving him a look that could very well execute him in a heartbeat if looks could in fact kill, and then walked away haughtily.

By now, Niall’s just worried that Louis has a strange fetish with whispering in his ear.

**Author's Note:**

> because i'm a sucker for highschool narry playing football


End file.
